Classroom of the Revenge

V1 - Chapter 8: Nagumo vs 'X' Day 2

A/n: Short chapter because of what the randomizer selected.

The following day, we met up again to begin the first competition. Kiriyama pulled out a piece of paper and read it aloud "Soccer. A one on one match where the first to five goals will win."

Nagumo laughed and said "now I truly feel sorry for you. Soccer happens to be one of my specialties."

"It is, huh? I suppose you could say I only know the rules," I said.

"Another thing you haven't done before? How interesting."

While I was familiar with the sport, I never had the opportunity to play it. I remember attempting to play it with...no, I should push those thoughts away and focus on the competition. We headed to an enclosed gymnasium that was reserved for indoor matches. Since no one was using it, it would be only our group.

To ensure a more complex game, a goalie, in this case Horikita was selected. We would be playing on the same net to utilize the same goalie.

Nagumo and I stood waiting for further instructions. The ANHS supervisor flipped a coin and asked Nagumo which side.

"Heads," he said.

The coin was revealed and it was heads, the ANHS supervisor asked "do you wish to be on offense or defense first?"

"Offense."

Nagumo obtained possession of the ball and the whistle was blown to begin. I immediately bolted toward him. Nagumo's eyes widened from my speed. However, he maintained composure and navigated the ball around where I was going. Maybe I shouldn't rely on pure speed...

Nagumo bolted toward the goal. His hair flowed from his speed and I quickly gained on him. However, I wasn't fast enough and he shot the ball. Horikita dived for it, but the ball had a massive arc to it causing Horikita to miss and Nagumo to score a goal.

Now I had possession of the ball. I lightly dribbled it back and forth, attempting to get a feel for its size and weight. Nagumo simply smiled and let me test it out. I then attempted to replicate Nagumo's movements from earlier. While I mimicked them to an extent, it was clearly a shallow display in comparison to Nagumo. Nagumo quickly attacked. I attempted to maneuver my body around and control the ball, but doing both actions without any prior training proved too difficult and Nagumo stole the ball and immediately fired toward the goal and scored.

The third time I was able to follow Nagumo's movements better. Nagumo smiled and then increased his attack speed on the ball. Once more, the ball was stolen and Nagumo scored. It was clear Nagumo had great experience in this game. Even his method of shooting changed all three times. The fourth time followed the same pattern.

The fifth round was my final chance to do something. At this point, I have completed my analysis of Nagumo's shooting. Accounting for the amount of force as well as the angle the force acted on, I replicated the motion and added additional force and altered the angle to score from the set off point. Nagumo was surprised by my shot, but I'm sure what was even more surprising was that the ball flew into the goal and I got a point.

Nagumo laughed and said "so you copied my technique? I guess I'll have to step things up so you can't copy it."

Nagumo then shot the ball at the starting position as well at a speed that caused the ball to have a shrill sound when it passed by. Horikita attempted to stop the ball but missed for the sixth time that game and Nagumo scored the final point.

"You grew rather fast," Nagumo commented.

"I learned from a great player," I said.

"No need for the praise. I'm not that great."